Maidenhead

By Tamara Faith Berger

On Spring Break vacation with her family in Key West, a 16 year old Canadian named Myra wanders away from her family and becomes initiated into a fascinating and possibly dangerous world of sexual perversity. Myra continues to explore her newly discovered proclivities back in her dull suburban hometown, and her voice alternates with the voices of commentators who stand both inside and outside the text As her protagonist flickers from exploited to exploiter from moment to moment, Tamara Faith Berger turns the prototypical story of the seduced innocent inside out by evoking horny, bored teenage girldom with fearless honesty.

"With so much focus in our world on what young female sexuality ideally looks like, it’s a relief to see this portrait of what young female sexuality honestly feels like. Maidenhead is a mesmerizing and important novel, lying somewhere between the wilds of Judy Blume, Girls Gone Wild and Michel Foucault." -- Sheila Heti

Tamara Faith Berger is the author of two previous novels. She lives in Toronto.